Royal Bank Of Canada Issues Pessimistic Forecast for Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) Stock Price

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) had its price target reduced by equities research analysts at Royal Bank Of Canada from $290.00 to $210.00 in a research report issued on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a “sector perform” rating on the CRM provider’s stock. Royal Bank Of Canada’s price objective suggests a potential upside of 7.99% from the company’s previous close.

CRM has been the topic of several other research reports. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Salesforce from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 28th. Mizuho reduced their target price on shares of Salesforce from $340.00 to $280.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, February 17th. TD Cowen restated a “buy” rating on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Friday, February 20th. KeyCorp reduced their price objective on Salesforce from $400.00 to $300.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group restated a “buy” rating and set a $300.00 price target on shares of Salesforce in a report on Thursday, December 4th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-seven have issued a Buy rating, eleven have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Salesforce has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $283.06.

Salesforce Trading Down 2.5%

Shares of NYSE:CRM opened at $194.47 on Thursday. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $223.98 and its 200-day moving average price is $238.32. Salesforce has a 1 year low of $174.57 and a 1 year high of $303.07. The firm has a market capitalization of $182.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 1.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a current ratio of 0.98 and a quick ratio of 0.98.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 25th. The CRM provider reported $3.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.05 by $0.76. Salesforce had a return on equity of 15.28% and a net margin of 17.96%.The company had revenue of $11.20 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $11.18 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.78 EPS. Salesforce’s revenue was up 12.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Salesforce has set its FY 2027 guidance at 13.110-13.190 EPS and its Q1 2027 guidance at 3.110-3.130 EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Salesforce will post 7.46 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director G Mason Morfit acquired 96,000 shares of Salesforce stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 5th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $260.58 per share, for a total transaction of $25,015,680.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 2,994,509 shares in the company, valued at approximately $780,309,155.22. This trade represents a 3.31% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Parker Harris sold 134,662 shares of Salesforce stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $234.70, for a total value of $31,605,171.40. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 139,767 shares in the company, valued at approximately $32,803,314.90. This trade represents a 49.07% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Corporate insiders own 3.00% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Salesforce

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of CRM. Commonwealth Retirement Investments LLC acquired a new stake in Salesforce during the 4th quarter valued at $25,000. Board of the Pension Protection Fund purchased a new stake in shares of Salesforce during the fourth quarter worth about $26,000. Key Capital Management INC purchased a new stake in shares of Salesforce during the fourth quarter worth about $26,000. Gilpin Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Salesforce in the fourth quarter valued at about $26,000. Finally, Evolution Wealth Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Salesforce during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $27,000. 80.43% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Key Stories Impacting Salesforce

Here are the key news stories impacting Salesforce this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Q4 beat on profitability and AI traction — Non‑GAAP EPS came in at $3.81 (well above consensus) and management highlighted Agentforce/AI monetization as a growth driver, supporting the view that AI is adding commercial value. Revenue In Line With Expectations
• Positive Sentiment: Big capital‑return program — Salesforce raised its dividend and authorized a $50B buyback, signaling management confidence and improving EPS leverage if executed. That buyback is a clear near‑term support for the share price. AI Bet & Buyback
• Neutral Sentiment: Long‑term targets updated — Management lifted multiyear ambitions (targeting roughly $63B revenue by FY2030) and kept FY27 EPS guidance in a tight range; this supports the long‑term bull case but leaves near‑term pacing ambiguous. FY30 Target & Guidance
• Negative Sentiment: Near‑term guidance and metrics disappointed some — cRPO and other cloud momentum measures were only in‑line, and commentary implied a mid‑year slowdown before AI‑driven reacceleration, which hurt investor confidence. Jefferies on Near‑Term Slowdown
• Negative Sentiment: Analyst cuts and mixed ratings — Several banks trimmed price targets (examples: Sanford Bernstein, TD Cowen, RBC, BMO, Barclays, DA Davidson) or issued neutral/underperform stances, increasing short‑term selling pressure as models were reset. Analyst Revisions
• Negative Sentiment: Investor skepticism over AI impact persists — Coverage highlights that some investors still worry AI could compress SaaS economics despite management’s assurances, creating continued volatility in CRM shares. 3 Reasons Earnings Failed to Impress

Salesforce Company Profile

Salesforce, founded in 1999 and headquartered in San Francisco, is a global provider of cloud-based software focused on customer relationship management (CRM) and enterprise applications. The company popularized the software-as-a-service (SaaS) model for CRM and has built a broad portfolio of products designed to help organizations manage sales, service, marketing, commerce and analytics through a unified, cloud-first platform.

Core offerings include Sales Cloud for sales automation, Service Cloud for customer support, Marketing Cloud for digital marketing and engagement, and Commerce Cloud for e-commerce.